Rand Paul Demands Obama Adhere to Congress on Syria

Amidst signals that the White House could ignore Congress if lawmakers vote no on military intervention in Syria, Senator Rand Paul demanded that Obama adhere to such an outcome during an appearance on CNN last night.

Emphasizing that the Constitution mandates that the legislature has the final decision on war, Paul stated, “I am proud of the President for coming to Congress but….he has to say he will adhere to our verdict, he can’t come to us in theater and say you guys get to vote but it may not count if I don’t like your vote – he can’t do that.”

Responding to claims by John McCain and John Boehner that a vote against military intervention in Syria would undermine the credibility of the United States and the office of President, Paul asserted, “I take my responsibility very seriously and I’m not too concerned about the President’s public relations – I am concerned though about young men and young women who serve in our military and I vote as if it’s my son or your son going to war.”

“I can’t send them to war to fight for stalemate, I can’t send them to war with no clear military objective, and I can’t send anybody to war when our goal is not victory. Our goal is stalemate, they’ve already said they don’t even want to topple Assad, they just want a negotiated settlement after they blast him with a few bombs – I can’t see anyone’s son or daughter fighting for that,” added Paul.